West Des Moines, IA 50265 is a vibrant and growing city with an active political scene. The City of West Des Moines operates under a council-manager form of government, with citizens electing six City Council members to represent them in various matters. Each year the West Des Moines City Council makes decisions on a range of topics, from economic development to public safety initiatives. The city also has two state representatives and a state senator to represent the interests of its residents in the Iowa Legislature. It is important for citizens to stay informed on local issues and current political candidates in order to ensure their voices are heard at the local level.
The political climate in Zip 50265 (West Des Moines, IA) is somewhat liberal.
Polk County, IA is somewhat liberal. In Polk County, IA 56.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained very strongly Democratic, 56.5% to 41.3%.
Polk county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 50265 (West Des Moines, IA) is somewhat liberal.
West Des Moines, Iowa is somewhat liberal.
Polk County, Iowa is somewhat liberal.
Des Moines-West Des Moines Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Iowa is leaning conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
West Des Moines, Iowa: d d D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 50265 (West Des Moines)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,996 contributions totaling $580,826 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $145 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 849 contributions totaling $382,134 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $450 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)